This article, an interview with the man himself, and this article, a thorough review of The Revolution: A Manifesto, are highly recommended. The book is still a hot seller.

The word “manifesto” is an interesting word choice. It really makes us think of the unabomber or Karl Marx. But what is a manifesto? It is a statement meant to manifest, or show, one’s beliefs, especially those with social and political underpinnings.

The word “revolution” is also an interesting word choice. In this sense, Ron Paul is referring to an ideological revolution, a change in the way we think and perceive man’s relationship to the state.

Is the state really the benevolent benefactor it’s cracked up to be? Or are the perpetual failures linked with governments (war, waste, dependency, corruption, etc.) indicative of some sort of pattern? Why are we considering the state as the necessary instrument to resolve poverty, to clean up the environment, to wage war, to control our transactions, and to punish an individual’s conception of wrong-doing at the expense of another individual’s way of life? Why does the state keep expanding in power, despite its constant, unfailing ineptitude, greed, and corruption?

Why are we silently complicit to this monstrous, perpetual, fantastical growth?